Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon
by CPoe
Summary: A new girl comes to Hogwarts - and changes the lives of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco.


**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK   
Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books,   
Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

**Authors Note:**  This story takes place in Harry's sixth year, however, I've decided that those two years above Harry (George, Fred, Angelina, etc.) are still at Hogwarts.  So, for the purpose of this story, they are only one year ahead.  Sorry for the confusion, I started writing it and wrote in these characters (and I like them, so I'm gonna keep them in it).  Also, I'm American, so if any British terms are misused, I apologize in advance.

**Harry Potter and the Emerald Dragon**

_Chapter 1: The New Arrival_

"Goodnight you guys," Ginny said as she finished packing up her school books.  All the other Gryffindors had gone off to bed, leaving the common room empty, save Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry.  

"Night Gin," Hermione said, taking her eyes off the chess board that sat in front of her for a second to look up after Ginny.  "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

"The bed what?" Ginny asked just before she reached the landing that lead to the girl's dormitories.

"Muggle stuff Gin," Harry called after her.  He then mumbled an order to one of his pawns before yelling, "Good night."

"You know Harry," Ron began as he easily took Harry's queen. "I don't know why you insist of playing me in chess all the time, you'll never beat me."

"Oh, but one day I will.  And that will be the greatest day of my life." 

"You must lead a pretty boring life if a day like that would be your greatest," Ron retorted.

"Not half as boring as yours," Harry said, as he moved his king over one space.  

"Do you even think about your moves before you make them?" He moved his knight into attack position. "Check."

"You know, I often think the same thing when I watch you play Quidditch," Harry mumbled, as he sat there, surveying the board.

"Honestly! Based on the way you guys speak when playing this game, you'd think you hated each other," Hermione burst in, unable to take it anymore.  While Ron and Harry may seem to be just as close as they had been at the end of their fifth year at Hogwarts, Hermione knew the truth.  They were slowly drifting apart, and she wanted more then anything to bring them back together again.  

"Who says we don't?" questioned Ron, as he sat back in his comfy, crimson armchair, crossing his arms over his chest in triumph as Harry continued to scan the board for some possible way to redeem himself.  Hermione saw Harry look up at the person who was supposed to be his best friend, and give him a rather rude hand gesture.

"I do!" Hermione practically screamed in response.  "Ever since we got back to school last month, you guys haven't been the same," Hermione finished, saying how she felt for the first time since she had noticed her friends' strange behavior.

"I guess people change," Ron said with a hint of accusation in Harry's direction.  "Are you done staring at the board, cuz you're sad attempts at breaking my…ten thousand game winning streak, are starting to bore me."

With that last comment, Harry got up, grabbed the chessboard, and threw it across the common room.  Pieces flew through the air, and the board crashed against the mantel of the fireplace with a loud crack.  Hermione sat there, shocked.  She didn't know what to say, do, or think.  Harry never lost his temper like that.  What was going on with them?

Harry then picked up his rucksack, grabbed his cloak from behind his chair, and started towards the stairs.  As he walked past Hermione, he leaned down, gently whispered "Sorry," into her ear and then continued to stalk in the direction of his room.  Just as Harry reached the stairs, Ron, who had been sitting there staring at his now shattered chessboard, jumped up and turned to face Harry.

"You'd better pay for that, Potter," he yelled, the anger in his voice cutting right through Hermione.  He'd called him by his last name, something only Draco Malfoy and Prof. Snape did.  Harry continued to walk up the stairs.  He didn't yell back his response until he had nearly disappeared into the hallway that led to the boy's dormitories.  But, it came down to then loud and clear.

"I'd like to see you make me."

Ron and Hermione sat there for a while in complete silence.  Neither of them moved or acknowledge the others presence.  Hermione was itching to break the silence and ask Ron to finally tell her what the hell was going on.  But, she was afraid he'd close up and stalk off to his room like Harry had.  If Harry had been mad enough to lose his temper the way he had, then it would be nothing compared to the show Ron was capable of displaying should she push him too far.  Harry and Ron were the polar opposites of each other.  Harry was the gentle, self-blaming and introverted friend who would rather skulk off and mentally bash himself rather then confront someone with a problem.  Ron, on the other hand, was the raving lunatic who would blame anyone but himself for everything that happened.  Sitting there, thinking about how her two best friends were now treating each other like dragon dung, tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Hermione, don't do that," Ron began. "There's no reason for you to get all hysterical."  Through her sobs, Hermione managed to give Ron a look of death before responding.

"Don't be hysterical?" she said having to stop and wipe away the tears that were freely flowing down her face now. "Don't be hysterical?  Why the hell shouldn't I be hysterical?  I don't get it, Ron, I just don't get it!"  

"Please Hermione, not now," Ron said in response. He sounded as if he was pleading with her, and she almost listened, but then she realized, she had had enough.

"Not now?  Then when?  Tell me Ron, when are you finally going to clue me in on what is going on between you guys?  When are the two of you going to finally stop leaving me in the dark, and let me try to help."

"Help?" Ron said with what sounded to Hermione like a forced laugh. "You want to help?  I wish Harry had been down here to hear that. I'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of it too."

"Well, I wish he _were_ down here to hear it!  Maybe if _you_ hadn't…"  but then she realized that Ron had gotten up from her chair and was coming at her quickly.  

"Of course you'd wish he were still down here, Granger!" he said, stopping about a foot away from her, leaning over her armchair with all 6 feet of himself.  Hermione turned her head, unable to look at him, trying hard to stop the tears that were now gushing from her eyes.  "Blame it on me, why don't you, because god forbid that this could all be _your_ fault.  Maybe if you took your nose out of your blasted books for once, you'd open your eyes enough to see what's going on right in front of you." And with that, Ron stormed off, leaving all his stuff, including his wrecked chess set, in the common room with Hermione.  

* * * * 

The next morning, Ginny awoke to the sound of her personal alarm clock, that was just loud enough for her to hear but not her dorm mates.  _Six thirty__, _she thought to herself, as she quietly whispered the incantation to shut off her alarm and began to get out of bed.  Pulling apart the crimson curtains surrounding her four-poster, she peeked out into her room.  Everyone was still sound asleep.

Quiet as a house elf, Ginny rummaged to the bottom of her trunk and removed the running suit she had purchased from a muggle mail order company called J. Crew at the beginning of term.  She had purchased the catalogue from Flourish and Blotts while she was in Diagon Alley buying her schoolbooks and supplies for the new year.  The catalogue had been expensive, especially with the heavy tax imposed on all muggle-made goods.  Shrugging it off as "just another book for her stupid muggle studies course", Ginny had managed to keep her true intentions from her all too nosey brothers, Fred and George.

In the Muggle world, running and jogging are normal activates for thousands of people looking to better their physical appearance, but to wizards and witches, any sort of physical exercise that didn't involve a broomstick was seen as a huge waste of time.  No respectable witch or wizard did it.  Ginny, feeling the need to spruce up her appearance, had been secretly running every morning since she arrived at Hogwarts.  She didn't exactly know what made her start, perhaps it was all the articles and pictures she had seen in the muggle magazines her mother used to buy when she was younger.  Of course, since the tax was imposed on such magazines a few years ago, her Mum hadn't been able to afford such luxuries.  She also knew that, somewhere in the back of her mind, the last thing she wanted was to inherit her mother's portly figure.

Ginny dressed quickly and then headed out the door and down the stairs to the common room.  She was about to walk over to the portrait hole, when she heard a sound coming from the chairs over by the fireplace.  "Shit," she whispered under her breath, as she turned and realized that someone else was awake.  She cautiously walked over to the chair, and, looking down, was somewhat shocked at who she saw sleeping there.

Curled up in a ball, her cheeks stained with dried tears, was Hermione Granger.

"Hermione," she said, tapping her on the shoulder. Hermione shrugged, and seemed to be in a distant place, one somewhere between sleeping and fighting the urge to return to reality. "Hermione, wake-up" she repeated.  Hermione now opened her eyes, and saw a flame of red hair directly before her.  She then looked around her, and Ginny saw her face change as she realized that she had fallen asleep in the armchair she had been sitting in the night before.

"Mornin' Gin'," Hermione said, as she moved her head from side to side, massaging her stiff neck.  "What time is it?"

"It's only six-thirty, but I figured I'd wake you up before the rest of the dorm comes down for breakfast," Ginny replied, and then paused, looking at Hermione with deep concern. "Were you crying?"

"Er…. what?" Hermione said, wiping her face and patting down her bushy hair, as if trying to pull herself together and look presentable. "Me, crying?" she said with what she apparently hoped would be a believable laugh.  However, Ginny gave her a look that showed she wasn't convinced.  "I must have just had a bad dream or something, you know, nightmares about exams and such," Hermione pushed on with the lie, perhaps hoping Ginny would leave it alone if it were obvious she wasn't going to divulge anything to her.

"Whatever you say," Ginny sighed, turning to look at the mess surrounding Hermione. "It must have been a real violent nightmare," she added, as her eyes swept past Ron's shattered chessboard.

"What are you doing up this early?" Hermione questioned, apparently trying to change the subject.  "Breakfast isn't even served for another hour half. And, what are you wearing?"

"Oh, me….I'm…Er…" and then she trailed off.  Hermione kept a hard glare on her. Damn it was hard to lie when she looked at her like that. "I'm going running," she finally admitted.

"Oh," Hermione answered, looking down at her feet. 

"Oh, please don't tell Ron," Ginny pleaded, grabbing Hermione by the shoulders. "Or Fred or George or anyone else.  The thought of how they'd look at me if they knew that…"

"It's ok," she said, interrupting Ginny's hysterics. "I promise not to tell anyone…as long as--"

"As long as what? Anything! I'd do anything."

"As long as you'll let me come with you," she said, looking up at Ginny for the first time.  The look on Ginny's face went from panic to sheer joy.  It was exactly what she had wanted: a running partner.  Getting up that early in the morning was a lot harder then she ever thought it would be, and it would be so much easier if she had someone to motivate her.  

"Do you mean it?  Do you really want to run with me?" she said, and then quickly added, "I mean, you do understand--"

"I know, I know.  Witches don't exercise.  You forget,  I lived the first eleven years of my life as a Muggle, so pish posh." She then looked down at herself. "Give me three seconds to run upstairs and throw on something I can run in.  I'll be right back." And with that, she dashed up the stairs to her room.  As Ginny stood there, watching Hermione bound up the stairs, she couldn't help but smile.  A running partner.  This would be great.

A few minutes went buy, and Ginny busied herself cleaning up the mess Hermione had left behind in the common room.  _Nightmare, my ass.__  What in the name of Godric happened down here last night?_, Ginny thought to herself, as she bent over and swept the shattered pieces of Ron's chessboard into a pile.  She managed to find all the white pieces scattered across the room, but was having trouble finding the black knight and two of the pawns.  They blended in so well with the dark designs on the floor, that Ginny began to give up hope of ever finding them after a few minutes of trying.  They probably got up and walked away anyway.  Damn magical chess pieces.

Sitting in the chair she had found Hermione in, Ginny looked at her watch.  It was almost 6:45, and Hermione was still not back yet.  If they didn't get started soon, they would only have two seconds to run before the rest of the school woke up.  Heading back up the stairs and towards the girls dorm rooms, Ginny found the door labeled "Sixth Years", and poked her head inside. 

"Hermione," she whispered into the room.  Looking around, she saw Hermione kneeling next to her bed, her finger over her mouth, and pointing to the beds around the room, as if trying to remind Ginny that her other dorm mates were still fast asleep.  Ginny crept over to kneel down next to Hermione.

"What's taking you so long?" Ginny whispered, as she looked at the mess that was piled on Hermione's bed.  It looked as though she had removed every article of clothing from her trunk, and hastily dumped it onto her four-poster.

"I can't find anything suitable for running," Hermione whispered back.  Holding up one of her black Hogwarts robes, she then added "These are all I've got."

"Oh, no problem," said Ginny, reaching her hand into her pocket and removing her wand. "I can't guarantee the best, but, I can at least do something with them until you can buy proper running clothes."  And with that, Ginny pointed her wand at the robe Hermione was holding up and whispered an incantation that instantly turned the robes into a long, black spandex unitard.  Ginny then repeated the spell on two other pairs of clothing that Hermione had spread across her bed.  Before long, Hermione was dressed in the unitard, a light sweatshirt and running shoes. 

"Ready?" Ginny whispered.  Hermione nodded an affirmative, and the two of them headed out of the dorm, and made their way out to the Quidditch pitch.

* * * * 

 Ron entered the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast, and walked over to the Gryffindor table.  Spotting his brothers, he took the empty seat next to the twin he thought was Fred.   He was in deep conversation with Angelina Johnson, who had an annoyed look on her face.

"I jus don un'erstand why Alicia makes us practice so often.  We're the bes team in the school!" he sputtered out through a mouth full of French toast.

"You guys are the best because you practice so often," Ron interrupted, reaching across Fred's plate for the jug of pumpkin juice.  He was just able to touch the handle, but was too far to actually grip it.

"Exactly, Ron.  Thank you.  Fred here has been complaining about Alicia's practice schedule all morning!" Angelina said, nudging the jug into Ron's reach.  Ron took it and began to pour.

"We were having a perfectly nice conversation before _you_ arrived.  Why don't you go find Harry and bugger off?" Fred said, fluttering his hand in front of Ron's face as if he was some sort of annoying fly.  He hated it when his brothers did this.  Ron looked down the table, and saw Harry sitting across from Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell.  Just then, Harry looked up and met his eye.  Ron quickly turned away and back to Fred again.

"I'm not talking to that git at the moment, you'll have to do in the mean time," Ron answered, taking another bite of his breakfast.

"Lovers spat?" Fred said, winking at Angelina who couldn't quite hide her giggles.  Ron chose to ignore his brother's remark, and simply dove back into his breakfast.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Ron caught the door to the Great Hall swing open, and saw Prof. McGonagall enter flanked by a girl Ron had never seen before.  She was medium height, wearing washed out jeans with a hole at the knee, and a light green halter top that hugged her every curve and matched the twinkling color of her eyes.  Her blonde hair was cropped just above her ears, with what appeared to be pink wisps that sprang out perfectly around her face.  She wore a messenger's bag across her chest, and was looking around the room with her eyes wide as can be.

"Who is she?" whispered Angelina, jerking her head towards the unfamiliar girl.  Everyone else seemed to be asking the same question, as the great hall suddenly became quiet with the low murmur of whispers.  Ron watched the girl speak for a few moments to Prof. McGonagall, before they both began to walk towards the other side of the room.  McGonagall  walked over to none other then Draco Malfoy, and seemed to be introducing him to the new girl.  Draco shook her hand, and then she took the seat next to him.  McGonagall then gave her a quick pat on the back, before walking up and taking a seat at the teachers table.

 "You don't think she's a new student, do you?" Fred whispered back to Angelina.  

 "I don't know.   Poor girl, if she's just here to visit, I doubt McGonagall would have sat her with the Slytherins."

"How that Malfoy punk managed to become a prefect, I don't know," offered Fred, as he swung around and dove back into his breakfast.  "She's a hottie though, I'll give her that."  Just then, Ron felt a sharp kick to his shin.

"Owe, Angelina!  What was that for?"

"Oh, sorry, meant to kick your insufferable brother for making a comment like that," she retorted, squinting her eyes at Fred as if to say "you'll pay for that."  It wasn't common knowledge that Fred and Angelina were dating, in fact, no one really _knew_ if they were or not.  But, Ron was quite sure _something_ was going on there behind the scenes, and would hardly be surprised if he walked in on them both snogging in one of the broom closets around the school.  

Ron turned back to the Slytherin table and watched the new girl come to life.  She was waving her arms and seemed to be telling some sort of funny story, because all the Slytherins around her were bending over with laughter.  All of the Slytherin boys at least.  The girls seemed to be completely ignoring her.  Ron thought this was strange, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice that came from just behind him.

"What you looking at Ron?" Looking up, he saw his sister standing over him, slightly flushed.  

"Oh, Ginny, morning.  Look at the Slytherin table…. she just walked in a few moments ago.  We can't figure out what she's doing here."  He then looked past his sister and saw Hermione, also slightly flushed, who quickly looked away as soon as their eyes met.  Oh, how he wished he could take back what he had said to her last night.  He had hardly slept at all thinking about how horrible he had sounded.  Digging deep into his courage, Ron looked directly at her and said "Hermione, did you hear anything about a new student at your prefect meetings?"  

"Nope," she responded, as both she and Ginny took a seat at the table.  One-word answers from Hermione were never good.  As soon as they were seated, the two girls both swirled around and took a good look at the new girl.

"She looks American," Ginny observed.  "And look at her hair, is it pink?"

"I think so.  And, she's not wearing robes.  I hope she's a new student, Hogwarts can use a little bit of foreign influence," responded Hermione.

"She seems to fit in well with the Slytherins," Ginny added, just as Ron noticed the new girl leaning over onto Draco, evidently overtaken with laughter.  "Guess that answers the question about whether she's nice or not," Ginny said, shaking her head.

And with that, they both turned back around to the table.  Immediately, Hermione began to pile her plate high with breakfast.  As soon as she was done filling every last inch of her plate with food, she then started shoveling it into her mouth at an alarming rate. Ron sat there and watched her eat, shocked at first, then he thought back to the days when she used to do the same thing before running off to the library.  

"Hungry Hermione?" Ron questioned, still trying to get his best friend to say more then one word to him.  She, of course, ignored him and began to heap second helpings onto her plate.  After a few moments, he added "Can't ignore me all day you know," under his breath, so that only she could hear him.

"Sorry, did I hear you mumble something under your breath?" she said, pausing for just a second from shoveling food into her mouth.  

"Er…." Ron began, but couldn't quite find the words to say to her.  He wanted more then anything to tell her how sorry he was, but at the same time, couldn't bring the words to form in his mouth.

"What's wrong,  can't think of some hurtful remark to say?"

"HermioneImSorryForYellingAtYouLastNight!" the words spilled out of his mouth.  _Phew, it was over_.  He had apologized.

"Aaaaand…???" she hinted.  _And what?_  _Oh no, what else did she want_.  Ron looked at Hermione with a completely blank expression, which she returned with a look that quite clearly expressed her frustration that Ron was clueless about whatever it was she was talking about.  "Aaaand….you'll never do it again."

"Oh, right, sure.  I'll never do it again," Ron repeated, looking at her expectantly.  

"Right then, that wasn't so bad.  Oh look Ron, Dumbledore's trying to speak."

Dumbledore stood at the center of the teachers table, beaming as he surveyed the entire student body.  Ron never quite understood how Dumbledore did it, but he always seemed to gain everyone's attention without clinking on his glass or yelling over the rumble of the hall.  He simply had to stand, and everyone would take notice and end whatever conversations they were in the middle of.  It was probably some sort of magic.

"Good morning everyone," the headmaster began. "I just wanted to get everyone's attention before you started heading off for your morning classes to make a little announcement.  It is with great pleasure that I introduce Emily Waters," he paused and gestured for the new girl to stand, which she did.  Ron noticed that she looked remarkably self confident, despite the hundreds of eyes that were now turned to her. "Emily joins us from America as the newest member of the Sixth Year class.  I hope everyone here will, at some point today, welcome her to Hogwarts and make sure her transition is quick and smooth.  That is all, good day to you all."

"Well, guess that answers it then," Fred said as soon as Dumbledore had finished his speech. "Slytherin's got a new bitch… Ow! Angie!…. I meant witch!" Everyone laughed as they all got up and started heading off to class.  Ron looked down at his schedule and a smile crept across his face as he realized his first class was Potions with the Slytherins.  

**End Note:**  Next chapter will be up soon…there are seventeen chapters in total, so it's still got a long way to go!  


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